A visa is official permission from the receiving country allowing a visitor to enter the country and stay for a proscribed period of time.
The visa is usually verified by a stamp placed in the visitor’s own passport. It is the visa stamp, and the unauthorized selling of visa stamps (not passports) that is at the crux of the controversy in Tonga.
A passport is issued to a citizen of a country to allow him to travel to other countries, some of which require visas as well as the passport. The Hawaiian Kingdom passport is only issued to Hawaiian Kingdom nationals (citizens). It is not for returning home to the Hawaiian Kingdom, it is for entry into foreign countries.
The passport validates the bearer as a Hawaiian Kingdom national traveling under the protection of international treaties and laws. It is meant to function just like other passports being carried by other nationals.
Specifically, the controversy in Tonga is that someone is selling Hawaiian Kingdom visas as a means to enter the United States.
The visas are being offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom initially to certain subjects (diplomats and royalty) of the Kingdom of Tonga to enter the Hawaiian Kingdom.
First, the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom gave no one in Hawaii or in Tonga authorization to sell visas. This initial visas issued by the Hawaiian Kingdom are free of charge.
Second, the Hawaiian Kingdom does not claim that these visas can be used for entry into the United States of America. A visa issued by the Hawaiian Kingdom only allows a person to enter the Hawaiian Kingdom, and no other foreign country such as the United States.
By issuing documentation for those who enter as visitors, the government of the Hawaiian Kingdom endeavors to assert its right to control its borders, that have been so seriously breached by a century of illegal aliens (mostly Americans) entering and taking up residence in the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Leon Siu
Minister Of Foreign Affairs
Comments
Aloha Kakou, Yes the controversy is over Visas, but the fact of whether our Visas are being sold and being represented as entry into the United States is yet to be determined. We do not know that it is the case and as the US fears Hawaiian officials exercising our international rights, these claims have to be investigated to find out who is really the source of them.
It was the American embassy that put out false claims already about our actions and so we will see what is really the controversy here.
Kai Landow